Fliers get respite from dense fog

Visibility at the Delhi airport improved in the morning peak hours on Saturday, allowing planes to take off and land with the help of advanced guiding equipment.

The respite for fliers came after three days of dense fog that hampered flight operations.

Officials said the fog enveloping the airport between 2am and 5am was dense, though flight operations continued in CAT-III conditions.

The Met department predicted some relief in the coming days, and claimed that dense fog will clear before 5am.

“The Delhi airport has been covered in a thick blanket of fog from 2am to 5am for the past few days. There have been times when the visibility at runway No. 29 dipped to below 50m. At runway No. 28, conditions have been suitable for landing and take-off,” said a Met department official.

Flights operated in CAT-III conditions on runway No. 29 from 2am to 5pm while on runway No. 28, the CAT-III conditions prevailed between 3am and 4am.

Officials added that while five flights were, cancelled 50 others were delayed by low visibility.

According to the Met department, visibility is likely to decline to 500m as a shallow fog is expected from midnight.

Visibility may further dip to 200m from 1.30am but operations can continue on runway No. 28 in CAT-III conditions, when the visibility is above 50m.

Fog has also affected train operations severely with Northern Railways cancelling several trains. While 34 trains were running late on Saturday, 16 were cancelled and another 26 were rescheduled.

“Trains that have been cancelled may be restored if there is no fog. This will be done three days before the departure of the train, with the qualification that the train may be cancelled again in case there is fog,” a Northern Railway spokesperson said.

“We are expecting that fog will start clearing from January 7-8 as strong winds are expected,” RK Jenamani, director, IGI Met department, said.